


About amends and first sight

by TV_addict_86



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Olicity Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9065002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TV_addict_86/pseuds/TV_addict_86
Summary: Oliver tries to make amends with Thea, but finds a distraction instead.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fallingmeleth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingmeleth/gifts).



> I had so much fun with Olicity Secret Santa 2016 over on Tumblr! I wrote this little fic for Deb (fallingmeleth.tumblr.com) who has some great edits on her blog, check it out if you're interested in that :)  
> I'm @sweetme86 over on Tumblr if you want to talk to me over there!

* * *

 

Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Yes, he’d messed up with Thea, _again_ , but there were likely ways to apologize that didn’t involve him freezing his ass off. And how much grovelling did he really have to do? Sure, he hadn’t had the best response to her and Roy’s ‘happy’ news, but who could blame him. The guy had knocked up his little sister mere months after they moved in together into this tiny little house on the edge of the Glades!

He was up to his ankles in snow, his feet were freezing and every time he breathed in it felt like he was inhaling tiny ice-picks into his lungs. But here he was, shovelling away all the snow between her – _no, their_ – front door and the corner store at the end of the street. His pregnant little sister was not going to slip and fall because there was snow everywhere. And maybe he needed to get back in her good graces after exploding a little bit when she and Roy shared their news with him.

Between himself and Thea, _she_ was supposed to be the responsible one. She’d seen him struggling to shed his so easily gained irresponsible billionaire playboy image after their dad died, and decided she wasn’t going to let herself get into that position.

Before he knew it she’d taken over planning events at Verdant from Tommy and earned herself a title as one of Star City’s more successful Event Planners, making her self-sufficient enough that she and her delinquent boyfriend (ok, ok, _ex_ -delinquent boyfriend) could rent this minuscule house together without any help from the Queen family fortune. This house that didn’t come with a valet service, or a helpful land lord or anyone that took care of basic things like shovelling the damn snow or getting the groceries.

His feet were colder than he’d thought possible because this act of apology was very spontaneous and he was still wearing his business suit. Which meant the shoes he was wearing with the suit were no match for the piles of cold winter he was shovelling away. His gloves were adequate, but the flakes that had made it from the trees to inside his collar weren’t doing him any favours. Just because he had turned over a new leaf didn’t mean he enjoyed manual labour, let alone manual labour in the freezing cold.

He was about 30 minutes in to what was turning out to be an activity that took up most of his afternoon when he heard someone walking towards him, crunching the snow that hadn’t been shovelled yet. He turned around and saw a tiny figure drowning in a huge parka and winter boots walking up to him. A tightly strapped belt showed off her curves and his eyes couldn’t help but linger on the parts of her toned, jean clad legs that weren’t hidden from him by a jacket or boots. Warm and comfortable looking boots that promptly reminded him of his own cold feet; he’d somehow forgotten how cold they really were just now.

He couldn’t see her face, the hood of the parka was pulled over her head and a giant multi-coloured scarf was draped around her neck, hiding her mouth but as she got closer he saw rosy cheeks and a nose that was starting to pink because of the cold.

She stopped walking as she got close to him and tilted her head back so she could look up to him from underneath the hood of her jacket. Eyes as blue as the winter sky looked him over before she said: “Why would you be out shovelling snow right now? It’s pointless!” Her expression shifted from bewilderd to sheepish in less than a second, “I mean. Hi random stranger” her voice muffled by the scarf.

“Hello” he replied. He was about to ask if he could help her with something when her words registered. “What do you mean pointless?” There very much was a point to what he was doing in the freezing cold.

Her head tilted sideways and a few strands of blonde hair escaped her hood and scarf combo.

“Well,” she started in a still muffled voice as she impatiently pulled on her scarf, “in just a couple of hours another foot of snow will fall on these beautifully shovelled streets” she finished in a now clear voice.

“Also, can I just say I’m so glad you don’t seem to mind a perfect stranger walking up to you and asking you questions. It’s just, you’ve been out here for a while and you must be really cold and I hate that you’re doing something that I don’t see the point of when it’s very obvious you’re not comfortable doing it at all so that’s a mystery you know and mysteries bug me! Why would you be doing this when it’s something you really don’t want to be doing and it’s pointless to boot? So before I knew it I was making you hot chocolate which was a really bad idea because now my entire kitchen smells like burnt chocolate and you’re still cold and I’m out here talking to you like a complete lunatic… which is going to stop right now.”

Her entire face scrunched up in embarrassment yet he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone look any cuter than the way she did right now.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or scream, because here in front of him was this bright ray of sunshine who’d completely distracted him from his cold feet and awful mood while actually making it a little worse too. _Because had he really been doing this for nothing?_

In spite of his sour mood he could feel himself start to smile at her before remembering his pregnant little sister and the dangerously snow laden sidewalks she was going to have to waddle through. _Walk over, don’t say waddle, don’t think waddle. She’d kill him if she heard him say she waddled._

Before his mind overflowed with all the horrible things that could happen to Thea in this weather or to him if she heard him say ‘waddle’, his mothers voice rang in his head reminding him of his manners.

“Hi, I’m Oliver Queen” he said, while holding out the hand that wasn’t still holding the snow shovel.

“Felicity! Smoak. Felicity Smoak, I’m not a first-name only person or something. Like Cher. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m just, not. Oh, you must be Thea’s brother, it’s nice to meet you finally. She’s been telling me I should meet you every chance she gets”. She was still shaking his hand as she finished talking, and his eyebrow lifted in amusement.

His smile was definitely taking over now.

“That’s me, Thea’s brother”

She glanced at their still joined hands and her already rosy cheeks flushed even brighter as she suddenly let go.

“I don’t have any hot chocolate to offer you, but how about you come in for a little bit, warm up, and then figure out how to apologize to your sister in a way that she’ll notice? Maybe by using words and stuff?”

His shock at her guessing correctly what he was doing must have been visible, because she instantly jumped in again, “Thea, she told me you were a ‘complete and utter overbearing, overreacting asshat’ when she told you her news, -her words, not mine- so I figured this was your way of apologizing for that. But in my experience an apology works better when you, you know, actually apologize?”

He was taken aback by the sincerity in her voice. He didn’t often encounter people genuinely wanting to help.

Maybe that’s why when he was going to politely decline –he didn’t need help apologizing to his sister, he had plenty of experience in that department-, what actually came out was a simple “Sure”.

They followed the footsteps she’d made in the snow when she first walked over to him, back to her house, only two doors over from Thea’s. He was glad, though not really surprised, Thea’d already found good people to surround herself with.

The smell of burnt chocolate assaulted him as soon as he set foot in her home. The thought crossed his mind that he might have to have a talk about fire safety so he didn’t also worry about the block going up in flames because someone tried to cook.

Maybe instead he could cook for her sometime.

While she took off her gloves, scarf and jacket, he couldn’t help but stare at her in wonder. How did someone so small inspire so many feelings so fast? She was kind and beautiful and thoughtful and he kept forgetting he was supposed to be helping Thea, fixing what he broke.

As if she could feel his mood start change, she turned toward him with a cute little crinkle between her eyes. “Hey, you’ve got grumpy face. Don’t worry we’ll figure it out!”

He smiled. How could he not when she looked at him like that?

 

He spent a lot more time than he intended in her comfortable home, sitting on her couch, talking through his worries for his sister while she listened. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so at ease, talking about things that scared him. Somehow they went from talking about his sister, to talking about him growing up and how shocking it was to him to suddenly be a big brother at ten, to talking about her growing up in Vegas and how even if she loved living here now, she’d never get used to the cold.

Somewhere in the middle of telling him about her mom raising her by herself she got up to turn on the lights, because it was already getting dark out. By the time her empty stomach made it’s presence known, he said the only thing that made sense to him anymore,

“Felicity, would you like to go out to dinner with me?”

* * *

 


End file.
